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Researcher receives grant to study effect of PTSD treatment on CV health
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Saint Louis University announced Jeffrey Scherrer, PhD, associate professor of family and community medicine, received a grant from the NHLBI to study the effects of treating post-traumatic stress disorder on CV and metabolic health.
Previous research has shown that veterans with PTSD have approximately twofold increased risk for hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes and ischemic heart disease, and many such veterans have unhealthy lifestyle behaviors such as excessive alcohol and drug use, smoking, poor nutrition and low physical activity, but a definitive study on whether reduction in PTSD symptoms improves CV health has not been done, according to a press release.
“If what our pilot data suggests is true and reductions in PTSD symptoms are associated with improved health behaviors, then physicians and therapists can work during the start of PTSD treatment to encourage patients to engage in changing their health behavior,” Scherrer said in the release. “If symptom reduction isn’t related to healthier life choices, it lends support for aggressive health promotion and screening of patients with PTSD treatment.”
The study will employ Veterans Health Administration data on patients aged 18 to 70 years being treated for PTSD, including through cognitive processing therapy or prolonged exposure therapy.
“Medical records lack precision to fully address the question,” Scherrer said in the release. “This is why detailed data from PTSD treatment encounters will be abstracted, then merged with the larger number of variables contained in the VA’s national patient data.”
While the study will focus on veterans, Scherrer noted the results could be generalized for other patients with PTSD. The grant is for more than $2.3 million.